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leighdownes.bsky.social
Leigh Downes (they/them)
@leighdownes.bsky.social
230 followers 290 following 74 posts
Northern, non-binary, cat companion, queer feminist, jigsaw enthusiast, peaks walker, bookworm & Juno Books volunteer.

Senior lecturer in Criminology at The Open University. Researching gender, sexuality, violence & social justice. Views my own.
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leighdownes.bsky.social
Leigh Downes (they/them) @leighdownes.bsky.social · Nov 20
Hello Blue Sky. Dipping my toes back into social media after a break. Let's see how it all goes...

You can find out more about me and my work here

www.open.ac.uk/people/jd23778
The Open University
Dr Leigh Downes, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, The Open University
www.open.ac.uk
leighdownes.bsky.social
"True feminists see that our struggle for liberation from patriarchal violence is inextricably tied to trans liberation. We would all benefit from a safer world. Hatred does not deserve a platform; the joy of Newnham’s trans+ community does."
Anti-trans societies won’t make women safer
Olive Watt reacts to the creation of the Cambridge University Society of Women, and reflects on the queer experience
www.varsity.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
rachelcdailey.bsky.social
Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act. The absolute tumbleweed from the media & gov shows just how much they want to bury how much disabled people fought and still fight for our rights.
November 9, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
northwestbylines.co.uk
Trans and cis people united in a heartwarming display of kindness
outside the Scottish (Holyrood) Parliament on 1 November
 | Sophie Molly
A demonstration of compassion and unity by the trans and cis community
Trans and cis people united in a heartwarming display of kindness outside the Scottish (Holyrood) Parliament on 1 November
northwestbylines.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
heatherpaterson.co.uk
Today is Intersex Day of Solidarity and Remembrance.

It's an opportunity to highlight the continued struggles faced by intersex people globally, from unnecessary medical intervention or stigma.

We all deserve to be treated with dignity, and live a life free from discrimination.
November 8, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
drbevans.bsky.social
Join us 24th Nov 2-3pm for a webinar on creating inclusive workplaces for academics with Energy Limiting Conditions. Register: AcademicsWithELC.eventbrite.co.uk For academics with ELC, line managers, HR, funders, publishers, union & EDI reps & conference organisers @isrfoundation.bsky.social
Image of a person buried under a pile of marking, grant deadlines and meeting requests. Logos of University of Liverpool and Independent Social Research Foundation. Text reads: Creating more inclusive workplaces for academics with energy limiting conditions. Webinar and guidance for academics with ELC, line managers & HR professionals, EDI & union representatives, funders, publishers & conference organisers. Monday 24th November 2-3pm.
October 23, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
damselindystopia.bsky.social
The thing about terminological arguments is that terminology doesn't actually matter but solidarity and respect for other trans people do. And a lot of people use the former to signal the absence of the latter.
October 29, 2025 at 9:46 PM
leighdownes.bsky.social
Yep, this makes sense.
goodlawproject.org Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · 19d
In @yougov.co.uk polling of the trans community, to the best of our knowledge the first of its kind ever conducted, an astonishing 84% said Britain is “fairly unsafe” or “very unsafe” for trans people.
goodlaw.social/ncfw
‘Abject terror’: survey shows 84% of trans people feel Britain is unsafe
YouGov poll reveals safety crisis for trans people in the UK
goodlaw.social
October 28, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
flsjournal.bsky.social
📣🏳️‍⚧️ Call for Papers

We are inviting papers for our special issue, “Feminist Responses to the Regression of Trans Rights: Strategies, Alliances, Hope.” The issue will be dedicated to trans-inclusive feminist legal analysis that addresses attacks on trans rights & lives.

Details below. Please share.
Call for Papers: Special Issue of Feminist Legal Studies Feminist Responses to the Regression of Trans Rights: Strategies, Alliances, Hope Amidst continuing backlash against trans rights, recognition and inclusion, two recent decisions from the UK have substantially impacted not only trans people’s legal status but also legal and social narratives of sex, gender and identity. The narrative that trans inclusion has a chilling effect on the rights of others, particularly women, has been adopted uncritically by both the UK Supreme Court in For Women Scotland and the Office for Students in its finding that the University of Sussex’s trans-inclusion policy had a chilling effect on free speech. These cases highlight a backlash that has been ongoing for some time, and sparks debates and fear of what may lie in the near future for trans people and kin, as well as other gender-variant persons, not only in the UK, but across jurisdictions and in a global perspective. The discourse of the ‘gender critical’ movement is splintering both the feminist and LGBT+ movements globally, with some aligning politically with the Far- and Christian Right against trans rights, adopting their terminology of ‘gender ideology’ and potentially posing a wider threat to sexual and reproductive rights. While this a difficult situation for trans people, kin and allies, this special issue seeks to emphasise that legal battles – including battles (temporarily) lost – are also an opportunity to seek to reinforce old alliances and to form new ones, to find new legal frontiers and imaginaries, to reinforce the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of legal arguments as well as intergenerational memory of what feminist legal work is, has been and should be about. How, we ask, do these decisions (and those like them globally) reflect and reproduce structures of coloniality, heteronormativity and cisnormativity? What do these decisions add to critiques of legal feminism? What would be construct…
September 22, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
carolinederry.bsky.social
Researching a legal moment that was supposed to change everything - whether it did or not? The call for papers for 'Moments of Rupture' is open until 23 October!
Free, online conference in November, hosted by the Open Universities legal histories research cluster.
#LegalHistory #cfp
The Open University
Moments of Rupture Online 20-21 November 2025Some legal and social changes are so profound that they create what seem to be moments of rupture: breaks between the ‘before’ and ‘after’. These moments c...
law-school.open.ac.uk
October 14, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
lexnetwork.bsky.social
📣 NEW EVENT! Members, sign up for the first LEX Seminar event of the academic year with Dr. Molly Ackhurst and Professor @tanyaserisier.bsky.social on the 30th of October at 2 pm GMT! Limited places available! Sign up here ➡️ www.lexnetwork.org/lex-seminar-...
October 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social
I hope people understand just how horrifying this is as a trans person.

You could just be getting in with your life, not doing anything to hurt anyone - and suddenly you find yourself dragged into a horrible legal case where the press is painting your going to the toilet as somehow predatory.
hleehurley.com Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · Oct 2
So tired

[News Letter]
Trans case hears of ‘secret toilet’ An engineer began using a “secret toilet” at her workplace after encountering a transgender colleague in the female bathrooms, an employment tribunal has heard. Maria Kelly said she does not want to “sacrifice my privacy and my dignity” by sharing toilets with a man and is taking legal action against her employer Leonardo UK. She has lodged a complaint alleging harassment, direct and indirect discrimination. Ms Kelly, people and capability lead for the aerospace firm’s electronics department in Edinburgh, said that as someone who suffers from heavy periods, female toilets are important to her as a place of refuge and privacy to deal with them. She told the tribunal in Edinburgh that after encountering a transgender colleague in the female bathrooms she began using two toilets that only women know about. She added: “I don’t know any man who knows about them. I know women who use them because of the increased privacy.” Ms Kelly said she had first become aware of a transgender person using the female toilets in 2019 when a member of staff from an office elsewhere in the UK came to Edinburgh and female colleagues told her about it, seeming “genuinely upset”. She said she did not raise the issue with the company at the time as she feared being labelled “transphobic” or being put on the “naughty list”. Her lawyer Naomi Cunningham asked her for her understanding of what constitutes a man and a woman. She replied: “It’s always been related to sex, so it’s the sex that you were born, so if you were born male you remain male and if you were born female you remain female.” The tribunal continues.
October 2, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
qucl.bsky.social
'Sticking Together in Tough Times' with Dean Spade
6 Oct 6-8pm
Discussing the kinds of bold, rule-breaking, risk-taking resistance that people are taking up to care for each other and save lives right now.
www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
'Sticking Together in Tough Times' with Dean Spade
qUCL and the SPRC are pleased to jointly host Dean Spade, who will discuss the kinds of bold, rule-breaking, risk-taking resistance that people are taking up to care for each other and save lives righ...
www.ucl.ac.uk
September 19, 2025 at 10:16 AM
leighdownes.bsky.social
This was a tricky yet good one to keep the mind goblins at bay in the current political hellscape. Santorini from Cloudberries
Picture of a ginger tabby cat sat in the middle of a jigsaw Picture of a jigsaw. A yellow potted fig tree with five yellow and black birds on a blue tiled floor with a blue and white building skyline in the background and a white sun.
September 23, 2025 at 9:37 AM
leighdownes.bsky.social
I'm so glad I'm queer so I don't find myself in defense mode arguing that a guy called Dave has a deep soul #Strandedonhoneymoodisland
September 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
cnlester.bsky.social
UNANIMOUS support for trans people from the Trades Union Congress - incredible news.

Trans people - join your union today, if you haven't already
September 10, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
transsafetynetshef.bsky.social
About Trans Safety Net Sheffield
Who are we: we are a trans-led grassroots group, offering confidential and non-judgmental support and information to increase safety and reduce harm to trans people in our city. Our focus will be led by community needs (initially around safe DIY HRT and mental health). who are we: we are local volunteers with no current funding or official affiliations. We are not a crisis service. Responsiveness will vary depending on volunteer capacity. Examples of how we can help: HRT: info about different forms of HRT, what to expect, common side effects, accessing and understanding blood tests. Mental Health: build your own crisis plan, trauma-informed mindfulness sessions, minority stress and resilience exercises.
September 7, 2025 at 1:22 PM
leighdownes.bsky.social
Nostalgia has entered full effect.
September 1, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social
Forthcoming statutory guidance could have a profound impact on trans people's lives.

I've written to the Women and Equalities Minister to urge her to reject anything that undermines trans people's rights, inclusion, privacy or safety, and for Parliament to have proper oversight.
August 29, 2025 at 11:42 AM
leighdownes.bsky.social
The Quakers show that it is possible to stand up for trans rights, call out transphobia, defend trans-inclusive spaces and do it with compassion. Lots for services to learn here www.quaker.org.uk/documents/re...
www.quaker.org.uk
August 29, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
stevetombs.bsky.social
Joe Sim @ccse-ljmu.bsky.social, @debcoles13.bsky.social & me
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
@carceralabolition.bsky.social @critcrim.bsky.social @europeangroup.bsky.social @inquest-org.bsky.social @lucybrisbane.bsky.social @timnewburn.bsky.social @waylon18.bsky.social @shaddmaruna.bsky.social
Why Shabana Mahmood’s outlook on prisons is wrong | Letter
Letter: The justice secretary has not understood many of the issues surrounding the prisons crisis, say Deborah Coles, Joe Sim and Steve Tombs
www.theguardian.com
August 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
stevetombs.bsky.social
The European Society of Criminology is normalizing war crime, crimes against humanity and genocide. We demand action from the ESC: please sign the petition to end complicity and circulate widely
@europeangroup.bsky.social @critcrim.bsky.social

eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Demand action from the ESC: petition to end complicity
We, criminologists and criminal justice scholars, are alarmed by several recent decisions by the European Society of Criminology Executive Board and Eurocrim local organizing and scientific committee ...
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
August 21, 2025 at 6:11 PM
leighdownes.bsky.social
"I didn't realise until it finally caught up with me. It's this idea of being pulled into a tribunal, having your name dragged through the mud, being spoken about, and having no control over the narrative"

www.wecreatespace.co/post/trans-a...
Trans Advocates Win Landmark UK Tribunal Case.
Eva Echo and Saba Ali share the story behind their tribunal win.
www.wecreatespace.co
August 14, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
lawsadrag.bsky.social
Join us for our CABARET!

Our drag artists will be performing in response to the For Women Scotland judgment

Raising awareness, fundraising for trand rights advocacy, sharing legal info, and having a camp old time

7pm, 28th September, Wharf Chambers, Leeds

www.eventbookings.com/b/event/law-...
Poster for the Law's a Drag cabaret show fundraiser. Theme: F*** For Women Scotland! Trans Solidarity! 7pm Sunday 28 September, Wharf Chambers, Leeds, performers TBA. You must be a member of Wharf Chambers or a guest to attend, but membership for the year costs £2 and can be done online at wharfchambers.org/membership Additional info poster. This cabaret is a response to the FWS judgment in the UK supreme court, which devided that trans women aren't women, and trans men aren't men. We say, fuck that! Join us for a fun, furious festival to fundraise for trans rights legal causes! Tickets cost just £5. All proceeds will be received by Dr James Greenwood-Reeves and donated to the Good Law Project's fighting fund for trans rights and the advancement of teans people's welfare. Tickets can be bought online or on the door. Some performances may present difficult or adult themes, audience members must be 18 years or older.
August 7, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
mskellymhayes.bsky.social
This book is a care package for organizers and activists. I wrote the first and last letters in the book and edited letters from beloved friends and co-strugglers like @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social, @mayaschenwar.bsky.social, @shaneburley.bsky.social, @prisonculture.bsky.social, and many more.
Read This When Things Fall Apart by Kelly Hayes | Pilsen Community Books
Letters to Activists in Crisis
www.pilsencommunitybooks.com
August 4, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Leigh Downes (they/them)
notrightruth.bsky.social
Endorsement: WRITING BADLY

Writing Badly is a new, print-only, journal of letters on the subject of feminism and transmisogyny. It is written and edited by and for trans women.

"By turns profound and infuriating, beautiful and devastating, this collection has it all."
Photo of Writing Badly Issue 1. The cover image is greyscale and features an abstract image of several fish. Photo of printed page. Text reads: Further praise for Writing Badly issue 1. Throw away your phone and read this instead. From cookery to consciousness-raising, from deep theory to casual misandry, from practical advice to impractical advice, the essays and letters of Writing Badly will help you build new worlds. Imagine deep conversation with the cleverest women you know. Imagine organising with the coolest women you know. Imagine arguing with the most annoying women you know. Imagine being in community with women who will always have your back. By turns profound and infuriating, beautiful and devastating, this collection has it all. Best, Ruth Pearce. Author, Understanding Trans Health (2018) and others.
August 2, 2025 at 7:25 AM